New CEO Nooney watches MobiTV

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MobiTV, a fast-growing company that puts TV shows on cell phone screens, has hired Charlie Nooney as its new CEO, effective Oct. 15.

Nooney will step down as president of Technicolor Network Services and give up his role as chairman of the board of cinema advertising firm ScreenVision, a company partly owned by Technicolor parent Thomson.

MobiTV offers its service for about $10 a month to more than 25 carriers globally, and it surpassed 2 million subscribers in February, the last time the privately held company disclosed user metrics.

The service includes live TV from such partners as Fox News, CNBC and Discovery as well as such on-demand shows as "The Office," "Heroes" and "Monk," plus several channels specially designed for tiny screens. A separate charge gives users access to XM Satellite Radio.

Nooney will replace founding CEO Phillip Alvelda, who is leaving in order to dedicate more time to the Westminster Institute for Science Education, which he co-founded last year with a mission for bettering the nation's elementary and secondary school science programs.

Before Technicolor and ScreenVision, Nooney was CEO of Premier Retail Networks, operator of the largest in-store TV network, and before that was an executive at Disney.

Nooney acknowledged that he's not yet a MobiTV subscriber, but he's impressed with the service nevertheless.

"I did my mother-in-law research and found that people like it," he said. "The most common remark I heard was, 'It's very cool,' " he said.

According to Jupiter Research, there are fewer that 12 million people in 40 countries who receive broadcast TV on mobile devices, expected to swell to 120 million by 2012, when mobile broadcast TV will be a $6.6 billion business.